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Short abstract:

The transition to open access publication models and their infrastructures significantly contributes to the ongoing transformation of scientific publishing. What are the challenges and opportunities inherent to this process?

Long abstract:

Scholarly publishing and science communication today primarily rely on digital formats. Databases and digital repositories are increasingly being used to store and publish research data. Open access (OA) publishing, endorsed by researchers and funders, is regarded as a desirable and contemporary publication strategy allowing for free access to scientific knowledge, with non-commercial OA models contrasting commercialized ones.

While OA enhances the visibility and representation of research and may give a voice to marginalized groups, it also introduces new vulnerabilities. Challenges include the increasing difficulty of anonymizing informants, the potential for decontextualization and appropriation of sensitive content, and the risks researchers face, exemplified by cases like Ahmed Samir Santawy's imprisonment in Egypt.

Furthermore, OA infrastructures and the transition from printed journals to PDF documents raise questions about how digital-material practices intertwined with OA shape modes of academic knowledge production in the digital era, e.g. in regard to screen-based reading habits, the roles of algorithmic actors, or the growing importance of metrics like clicks and download counts.

The EthnOA project, funded by the German Research Foundation, seeks to accompany the ongoing transformation within German Social and Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology. Over three years, it aims to foster critical debates on OA, support journal editors and researchers, contribute to sustainable OA infrastructures, and ethnographically investigate ethical issues associated with OA.

In our contribution, we aim to explore the complex ethical issues surrounding OA and the transformation of scholarly publishing through the lens of phenomenal anthropologies and co-creative choreographies of diverse actors.